West Side Story

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West Side Story

1961

2h 31m

Musical

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

92%

Tomatometer

115 Reviews

84%

Popcornmeter

100,000+ Ratings

A musical in which a modern day Romeo and Juliet are involved in New York street gangs. On the harsh streets of the upper west side, two gangs battle for control of the turf. The situation becomes complicated when a gang member falls in love with a rival's sister.

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Critics Consensus

Buoyed by Robert Wise's dazzling direction, Leonard Bernstein's score, and Stephen Sondheim's lyrics, West Side Story remains perhaps the most iconic of all the Shakespeare adaptations to visit the big screen.

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Louis Cook

Detroit Free Press

Dec 2, 2021

One of the lovely things about West Side Story is Rita Moreno, whose acting and dancing are elegant. Chakiris is darkly handsome and effective, and Tamblyn is great on the dancing.

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Marjory Adams

Boston Globe

Dec 2, 2021

It roars with the hatreds of street battle. It twinkles with joyous motion which turns into fierce agitation as the stresses of misunderstanding speed the players into an uncontrollable maelstrom.

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Stanley Kauffmann

The New Republic

Dec 2, 2021

It is Robbins' vision -- of city life expressed in stylized movement that sometimes flowers into dance and song -- that lifts this picture high.

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Matt Brunson

Film Frenzy

Feb 22, 2025

3.5/4

Most of the intricately choreographed dances still impress, and there are fine contributions by George Chakiris, Russ Tamblyn, and especially Rita Moreno.

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Mark Johnson

Awards Daily

Jun 8, 2023

Loaded with innumerable and distinguished songs by Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim (each one an earworm of its own), West Side Story is a tale of race and social decorum and is an incredibly inventive adaptation of the legendary Shakespeare story.

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Pauline Kael

Film Quarterly

Jul 29, 2022

This is a movie that pretends to deal with racial tensions. The lyrics keep telling us this is what it's about and the critics seem to accept the authors' word for it.

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kevin c

Nov 29, 2021

Classic. Don't see how Speilburg can make this better

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Michael

Nov 29, 2021

The film was great of course. But I want to thank Hawthorne 12 theater (Vernon Hills, Illinois) and Fathom for the presentation. Print of film was new beautiful, the colors were hot—-and there were no glitches. Well presented. Even intermission was handled well ( with time on screen)

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cathie

Nov 29, 2021

This is my all-time favorite movie that I’ve loved since I first saw it in 1975. I lost count how many times I watched this movie, and tonight was no disappointment. The seats are so comfortable and the theater was perfect for this movie.

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Hannah P

Nov 29, 2021

Loved the movie! My friend enjoyed it too!

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Paul

Nov 28, 2021

horrible. the theater couldn't log in to show the movie. received an error message that either the broadcast was unavailable due to maintenance or access was unauthorized.

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Steve C

@RT19610513 Oct 10, 2026

Starts off with ballet but progresses towards and ends with plain old acting

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Jerome Robbins

Director

Robert Wise

Director

Natalie Wood

Maria

Richard Beymer

Tony

Russ Tamblyn

Riff

George Chakiris

Bernardo

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Synopsis

A musical in which a modern day Romeo and Juliet are involved in New York street gangs. On the harsh streets of the upper west side, two gangs battle for control of the turf. The situation becomes complicated when a gang member falls in love with a rival's sister.

Director: Jerome Robbins, Robert Wise
Producer: Robert Wise
Screenwriter: Jerome Robbins, Arthur Laurents, Ernest Lehman
Distributor: United Artists
Production Co: United Artists, Beta Productions, Mirisch Films
Genre: Musical
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Oct 18, 1961, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Sep 20, 2015
Runtime: 2h 31m
Sound Mix: Stereo, Magnetic Stereo 6 Track
Aspect Ratio: 70mm

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